Psych 155b: Human Adjustment & Maladjustment

1. Psych 155b: Human Adjustment & Maladjustment Dr. Kimberley Clow SSC 6421 kclow2@uwo.ca http://instruct.uwo.ca/psychology/155b/

2. Read Your Course Outline! • Can’t have antirequisites • Psych 150, 251E, 253E, 257E, 350F/G • Textbook • Sue, Sue, & Sue (2003). Understanding Abnormal Behaviour. 7th Edition • TA – Jennie Ward • Contact Jennie to go over exams • jward9@uwo.ca

3. Evaluation • 3 exams • Test1 and Test2 • 30% each; Non-Cumulative • Final Exam • 40%; Cumulative • 4 Grading options • Test1 30%; Test2 30%; Final 40% • No Test1; Test2 30%; Final 70% • Test1 30%; no Test2; Final 70% • No Test1; no Test2; Final 100% • Your grade is calculated in all 4 ways and I take the option that works BEST for you

4. Lecture Overheads http://instruct.uwo.ca/psychology/155b/ • Lecture overheads are available on the class website BEFORE class • Print them out and bring them to class • Spend class time TAKING NOTES on the details I talk about that aren’t in the overheads • The overheads are not a replacement for coming to class • Just using the overheads is not sufficient preparation for exams • They are tools to help you take BETTER notes; not a replacement for note taking

5. Lecture Schedule

6. Abnormal Psychology • The scientific study of abnormal behaviour, with the objective to • Describe • Explain • Predict • Control • So what are abnormal behaviours?

7. The Movies…

8. Myths of Abnormal Behaviour • The following are common myths about those suffering from mental illness: • Easily recognized as deviant • Disorder due to inheritance • Incurable • Weak willed • Never contribute to society • Always dangerous

9. What is Abnormal Behaviour? • Abnormal behaviour departs from some norm and harms the affected individual or others • Conceptual Definitions • Practical Definitions • Surgeon General & DSM-IV Definitions

10. Conceptual Definitions • Statistical Deviation • Deviations from Ideal Mental Health • Multicultural Perspectives • Cultural Universality • Cultural Relativism

11. Practical Definitions • The 4 ‘D’s • Discomfort • Deviance • Dysfunction • Danger

12. Surgeon General & DSM-IV • “A clinically significant behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress (e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom”

13. History • Ancient Beliefs • Demonology • Exorcism • Trephining • Naturalistic Explanations • Hippocrates • Four Humours • Return to the Supernatural • Mass Madness • Tarantism • Witchcraft

14. Reforms • Humanism • People are sick; not possessed • Need to be treated with dignity • Reform Movements • Moral Treatment • Shift from prison to hospital • Biological View • Organic explanation for abnormal behaviour • Drug revolution

15. Frequency of Mental Disorders

16. Psychology Student Syndrome • Many psych students find that the various disorders apply to them • Abnormal behaviour is not qualitatively different from “normal” behaviour • Many of us will exhibit similar symptoms • Behaviours are only problematic when they harm or interfere with your daily functioning • Diagnosing friends and romantic partners may lead to conflict

17. Mental Health Professions • Who studies abnormal behaviour? • Clinical Psychologist • Ph.D. and internship • Psychiatrist • M.D. and internship • School Psychologist • M.A. or Ph.D. • Social Worker • M.S.W.

18. Who Do People Go See?

19. Diversity & Multiculturalism • Social Conditioning • e.g., gender stereotypes • Cultural Values • Interpret complaints with culture in mind • Sociopolitical Influences • Different experiences affect what is abnormal • Bias in diagnosis

20. Diagnosing Abnormal Behaviour • Multiaxial approach • Clinical disorders • Personality disorders • General medical conditions • Psychosocial & environmental problems • Level of current functioning

21. An Example of Classification • Mark • Axis I: Clinical Disorder • Alcohol Abuse • Axis II: Personality Disorder • Paranoid • Axis III: General Medical Condition • Cirrhosis • Axis IV: Psychosocial & Environmental Problems • Problems with primary support group (divorce) • Occupational problems • Axis V: Level of Current Functioning • 54 (moderate difficulty in social & occupation functioning)

22. Interrater Reliability

23. Helps To making treatment decisions To communicate among clinicians Research advancing knowledge of disorders diagnosis as a first step to understanding mechanisms and developing treatments Hinders By stigmatizing patients Because different labels can mean different things to different people By biasing how we see the patient By focusing on one point in the patient’s development Patient may outgrow the label Issues of Classification

24. Assessment • Observation • Self-Report Inventories • Biological Measures • Psychophysiological Measures • Neuroimaging Techniques • Projective Tests • Rorschach Ink Blots • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

25. Rorschach Ink Blots

27. Scoring • Look at the following factors • Location • Determinants • Popularity of response • Content • Form • Generate hypotheses based on patterns of responses, recurrent themes, and interrelationships among scoring categories

28. Thematic Apperception Test - TAT

30. Interpretation • Murray’s concepts • Need • Press • Thema • Basic Assumptions • Person is identifying with the protagonist in the story • They are projecting their personality onto the protagonist